6.First person or third person? In point #3 I suggest writing in third person to make it easier for you to regard yourself in an objective light. However there are times when you may need to present your text in first person – e.g. in a letter or email. Try where possible to use third person – if for no other reason than it gives you more leeway to write enthusiastically about yourself.

7.Follow rules of modern business writing; keep it simple. Use “active voice” rather than “passive voice” where possible. Keep your sentences down to a sensible length and use no more than three or four sentences per paragraph. Use cross headings and “pullouts” to break your text up visually and allow reader to pick up on main points.

8.Where appropriate, use short clips of testimonials from existing clients or customers. Avoid pleasantly banal bits and use phrases and sentences that have some meaning and bite. A sentence or two normally is plenty – any more and reader will probably just skim over it.

9.Be sure that your grammar, spelling and punctuation are right. Although standards have been slipping in last few years recent publication of “Eats, Shoots & Leaves” book has focused everyone’s attention on technical aspects of writing again. Goofs of this nature make your text, and you, look amateurish.

10.Do a reality check on your text after you’ve completed it. Show it to friends and colleagues and ask not if they “like” it, but if they feel it represents you fairly – and if not, why not. Then take other people’s opinions on board, but don’t lose sleep over them. At end of day you probably know yourself, and your market, better than anyone else. Don’t be afraid to make final judgments.

When I asked them for feedback, I got a real wake-up call.

They said that at first they felt as if I really understood their processes and problems. Our prices were a little higher than our competition, but what stood out was my approach to understanding them and not pushing sale.

They felt as if I really had their best interests in mind, so they heard me out. But when I started to push for close, they saw that I was just like everyone else who sells, so they had to make their decision based on price, instead of on value of our relationship.

The relationship, and consequently sale -- which I invested many hours developing-- died moment I put on pressure. By using traditional sales techniques, I wound up sacrificing relationship and sale.

This experience was what I needed to unlock my brain and realize impact of traditional selling techniques on prospects (or should I say, "people").

I finally feel as if I've found missing ingredients that make selling a natural, productive experience that will actually bring me sales instead of losing them.

Warmest Regards,

Ryan ===================================================

Ryan's story points to a very important lesson: if you don't have an approach that is a perfect balance of nonaggression and effective penetration of your prospect's core needs, you'll end up asking yourself time after time, "Why am I losing sales, and why has selling become so painful?"

You can risk relationship and lose sale, but with a different sales mindset, you don't risk anything at all -- because you can preserve relationship, and make sale.